


Heaven and hell were words to me

by Semperlitluv



Series: Something so precious about this [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, game of thrones
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Confessions, F/M, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 22:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20379301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Semperlitluv/pseuds/Semperlitluv
Summary: “So he was wholly unprepared for this conversation. He’d thought about it, obviously. Imagined it. Fantasized about it, really.It had never started like this, though.“Arya overhears a conversation that sends her reeling.





	Heaven and hell were words to me

“I just don’t get it! Why won’t you hook up with me?! I’m hot, you’re hot, it just makes sense!”

Arya gave a snort, lining up her next shot. Jeyne Heddle wining at some poor guy around the corner wasn’t going to distract her from maintaining her title as the undefeated beer pong champ of Storm’s End. 

“Look, Jeyne, I just... I’m in love with someone, ok? This, with you, is not ever gonna happen. Can you leave me alone, please?” 

Arya’s hand paused mid-air. A sting bloomed under her collarbone, a fierce sensation that rumbled down into a dull thud deep in her gut. 

Jeyne was talking to Gendry. 

“Yo! Arry! You finally realized you can’t win this one?” Lommy’s taunt reached her ears and Arya’s body reacted instinctively. Without a word, Arya pitched the ball, turned around and stalked out the front door of Anguy’s house before her winning shot had even fully sunk in the red cup.

* * *

Dropping onto Anguy’s front step, Gendry took a deep breath. “Ugh, it’s too hot inside,” he groaned. 

“Hey, I heard you smoked Lommy again at beer pong! Nice!” He held out a fist to Arya to bump, their usual method of celebration. She was not prone to hugs. Gendry was unsure if he was relieved or disappointed about that proclivity. 

Several beats passed and Arya remained still and silent. “You okay, Arry?” 

“Do I know her?” Arya’s tone was calm, neither icy nor warm. It was strangely emotionless for someone who burned as bright as Arya. And a little scary.

Gendry furrowed his eyebrows, confused. They frequently dropped into the middle of a previous conversation, picking up exactly where they left off, but he couldn’t recall any where this question made sense. “Know who?” 

“The girl you’re in love with. Do I know her?” 

Alarm bells sounded somewhere deep in Gendry’s mind, even as he answered without thinking. 

“Who says I’m in love with someone?”

“I heard you talking to Jeyne. I know we don’t usually talk about relationships or whatever, but I guess I figured if you were really fucking serious about someone, you’d tell me. And how could you even be in love with someone? You haven’t been on a date in like a year.” As she spoke, Arya’s voice grew sharper, although her tone remained chillingly emotionless. 

Gendry was a little stunned. He was a ruminating sort of man - yet not much of a planner. Growing up primarily in foster care hadn’t been too miserable (especially when Davos found him in King’s Landing and brought him and Shireen to Storm’s End) but he had experienced enough instability to make it unlikely that he wouldcount on anything (or anyone) as a sure thing.

So he was wholly unprepared for this conversation. He’d thought about it, obviously. Imagined it. Fantasized about it, really. 

It had never started like this, though. 

“I’m not going to lie to you, Arya,” his voice came out low, rougher than he expected, “I’ve only lied to you once. And that was when I told you that your dad only wanted to talk about Robert.” 

“What are you on about?” Arya turned slightly in his direction, “What in the seven hells does my dad have to do with you hiding a girlfriend from everyone?”

Gendry sighed. There was no feasible way he could see that he could answer Arya’s question without telling her. Without divulging the only true secret he’d probably ever kept in his 26 years of life.

Gendry was in love with Arya. 

“Just... just let me get this out, please.”

At her slight nod, Gendry began again, “When we were in Winterfell for your birthday, and I met the rest of your family, you remember how your dad pulled me into his study that one night to show me some old stuff of Robert’s? Well, that wasn’t the only thing we talked about.”

* * *

_ Ned shifted in his seat, reaching to place the stack of old photos on the table in front of him. Gendry felt... unsettled, maybe? It was hard to reconcile his feelings about his absentee father with the stories Ned had shared about their boyhood. Maybe Gendry would always see Ned’s Robert and his father as two separate people in his head.  _

_ “It’s been, what, two years that you’ve known Arya?” Ned asked.  _

_ “Yes, just about that.”  _

_ Ned leaned back, folding his long fingers under his chin. “You know, in that time, I think I’ve heard more from my family about you than anything or anyone else.”  _

_ “Sir?” Gendry asked uncertainly, questioningly. At the amused look he received in return, he said again, “I mean, Ned.” _

_ “My children are a pack, Gendry. They protect their own fiercely and their ranks don’t open for many. Yet, with each of their visits to Storm’s End, I’ve heard as much about you as I have about Arya. Except maybe from Rickon. He’s pretty enamored with that cousin of yours.”  _

_ Gendry couldn’t help smiling at that. “Shireen is one of the best. He’s got good taste.” _

_ “I think can say that about all my kids, Gendry,” Ned shifted again, looking Gendry straight on across the space between their club chairs, “so believe me when I say this: my children obviously count you as part of their pack. I know you haven’t had much in the way of family outside of Davos and Shireen. I’ll never understand how Robert treated you or any of your siblings. Believe me when I say that you have family here. In my children, in Catelyn and in me. For as long as you’d like.” _

_ Gendry swallowed hard. He’d spent a long time feeling like an afterthought, like a burden, and even after 10 years with Davos and Shireen, he knew that bitterness still lived on. Smaller, less significant, sure. But still present in him. Ned’s sincerity made his eyes sting.  _

_ “Thank you, Ned. I... I don’t know what to say.”  _

_ Ned reached out, giving Gendry a brief clap on the shoulder in a timelessly fatherly gesture. “Nothing to say, son. I’m only going to ask one thing of you, and that’s an honest answer to my next question.” _

_ “I can do that.” Gendry nodded enthusiastically.  _

_ “When are you going to tell Arya that you’re in love with her?” _

* * *

“I definitely didn’t think it would be on Anguy’s front steps, but, uh. Yeah. I love you. I’m in love with you, Arya. Have been for a while now.” 

Arya thought she might be having a stroke. Had she sustained a traumatic brain injury? She was sleeping, or maybe someone had roofied her drink inside. She could not possibly be awake and alive in a universe where Gendry had said those words to her. The very words she had thought about for months. Imagined saying them, hearing them. Fantasizing, really. 

It had never been like this, though.

In her mind, she was the first one to say it. Arya Stark was no coward, after all. She’d say it, Gendry would be surprised, but then they’d fall together perfectly. Like they had always been that way. 

She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. She was well and truly speechless. Her mind was blank. But her feet itched to move. 

As much as Arya was known as a fighter, her instincts were heavily weighted towards flight.

Gendry sighed a bit morosely, pulling out his phone from an inside jacket pocket. 

“I just called you an Uber. Go home. Shireen and I will get your car back and leave the keys in the usual spot.”

Gendry already had her keys. He didn’t drink, and neither did Shireen. Arya had always been willing to trade them rides to parties and events for their time as an occasional designated driver.

Arya felt her head nod as if it wasn’t attached to her body. Then, in a voice that sounded far away, she spoke, “Will you stay with me until it gets here?”

Gendry pulled the offended look he always did when she made fun of him. It registered vaguely as comforting to her, the expression had seen a thousand times before. When he replied, his voice was quiet but firm. “I always do, Arry.” 

She nodded again, still feeling like her limbs might not be attached to her body. They sat in silence until headlights curved across the front lawn.

Even after Arya had closed her front door behind her and climbed into bed fully clothed, she didn’t feel like she could breathe. 

**Author's Note:**

> The writing bug hit me again and it hit me hard. Hope you enjoy this! I have another long flight on Monday, so I’ll likely have the follow up written & posted then. 
> 
> Title from Hozier’s “Cherry Wine.” Typed on my phone and unedited, so please excuse any errors or terribly run-on sentences. I love commas.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I’m semperlitluv on Tumblr. Come visit.


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